Vidarbha, Amravati, India: The Congress Party has suspended MLA Sulabha Khodke for six years due to her involvement in activities against the party. This decision was made by Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) president Nana Patole, following directives from the party’s Maharashtra in-charge, Ramesh Chennithala.

According to the suspension order issued by Nana Patole, the party received several complaints about MLA Sulabha Khodke’s involvement in anti-party activities during and after the recent Lok Sabha election.

MLA Sulabha Khodke was reportedly one of seven Congress MLAs accused of cross-voting in the legislative council election, leading to the defeat of PWD leader Jayant Patil, who was the candidate for the Maha Vikas Aghadi alliance. However, MLA Khodke denied these accusations.

In the 2019 Assembly election, Sulabha Khodke defeated BJP’s Dr. Sunil Deshmukh, who has since joined the Congress Party. Her husband, Sanjay Khodke, is a leader in the NCP faction led by Ajit Pawar and is a close associate of Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar.

In the 2019 Assembly election, MLA Sulabha Khodke received the Congress ticket at the last minute after the initially expected candidate, Raosaheb Shekhawat, withdrew from the race.

At the time, Sulabha Khodke had the option to run as either a Congress or NCP candidate. However, since the Amravati Assembly constituency was allocated to Congress under the Congress-NCP alliance, she chose to contest under the Congress symbol and won the election.